Quality assurance in gastroenterology: QA in research, and research in QA.

There is no clear distinction between research and quality assurance (QA). Both entities should be of high quality to serve as trustworthy tools for continuous evidence-based improvements in health care. Both research and QA should be of interest to an audience of readers of medical science - provided that the work is up to standards. Quality in research encompasses issues actually dealt with (are we putting our resources into the right things), validity (are the findings valid for other than the patients tested), ethics (why should patients consent to studies that have no prospect of giving an answer to the questions put in the research protocol) - in addition to quality of design and presentation. Likewise, QA work could gain much on a stronger focus on research methods - as suggested in the upcoming Competetitive Effectiveness Research. In conclusion, quality in research and research in QA should be asked and requested more often.